Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Amos Posner @amosposner.bsky.social · 12m

Every time I see a story about farms struggling because of this administration's policies, I'm reminded that JD Vance invested in a fund that buys up farm lands.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2h

(ABC News) - The U.S. Labor Department is warning of a potential food crisis linked to President Trump’s immigration raids ..

abcnews.go.com/US/family-fa...

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Asher Langton @asherlangton.bsky.social · 14m

Sure, buddy. That’s a real thing that definitely happened.

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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 24m

Funny how the press + white politicians just about never refer to unarmed Black teenagers who get murdered --

like Laquan McDonald, Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Ma'Khia Bryant, & younger, like Tamir Rice, Aiyana Jones-

as "kids," even though they call 30something racists "kids". 🤔

Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 17h

These. Were. Men. In. Their. 30s.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

No one in the GOP Hitler chat was a "kid"

We checked. Sorry, JD Vance.

www.motherjones.com

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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 52m

Stop calling us Nazis or we’ll murder you over things you say

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1h

Homan: "If the hateful rhetoric continues, there will be bloodshed. People are going to die ... there is going to be more bloodshed unless this hateful rhetoric stops."

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 56m

Just going to keep pointing out that they're openly asserting that they think any criticism of the president is tantamount to "hating America" which is, itself, an insult to American values.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1h

Barrasso on No Kings: "They have this big 'I Hate America' rally this Saturday in Washington where you have all these far-left activists groups coming to protest the president and the administration."

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 1h

There is a particular stabbing pain those of us familiar with the Hollywood blacklist feel about the phrase “prematurely anti-fascist”. Let’s just say this dynamic has been in play for a fucking century.

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 3h

If you were “prematurely anti fascist” about this you were a hysterical lib, if you were wrong about it you’re a respectable intellectual with lots of billionaire connections bsky.app/profile/gtco...

George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 8h

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

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Ewamore, Quoth the Raven @ewacat.bsky.social · 1h

within a sentence of his reply a migraine seared itself through my eye socket

James Lawrence @kingfridayjoe.bsky.social · 1h

Lol, fuck off Grant

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Dr Matt Lodder @mattlodder.com · 1h

A question, lads. Where does the "free knowledge" come from, and how do we make more of it? What might we call the people whose job it is to find stuff out, such that the machine can feed upon their discoveries? What kind of system could we make which supported the practice of finding stuff out?

Vlad 🐸 Țepeș @porcupunk.bsky.social · 16h

Wow. Just wow.

"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."

When Knowledge is Free, What are Professors For?

Higher Education Must Stop Competing with AI on Information and Start Teaching What Machines Can’t Do

www.forbes.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2h

Where we stand, in long arc of history:

-Story on left, adding race as a factor when that favors white people.

-Story on right, banning race as a factor when that favors non-whites.

I often complain about NYT headlines and story-play. But these are strong. Including "If Court Guts 1965 Law."

Two headlines on front page of NYT.

First is "Trump Weighs Transforming Refugee Policy. White People Would be Given Preference."

Second is "Justices May Ban Race as a Factor in District Maps. Nation's Political Balance Could Shift If Court Guts 1964 Law."

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KMJeezy @kmjeezy.bsky.social · 5h

Need to start asking this!

Sky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 12h

what did he think trump was gonna do, exactly. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Longtime Florida insurance agent Alan Reynolds, 65, predicts many of his customers will allow their policies to lapse when the price hikes become clear. An independent who leans conservative, Reynolds, of Port St. Lucie, called the Affordable Care Act flawed but said he favors the continuation of the enhanced subsidies “and not pulling the rug out from under people.”

His family is also affected. The loss of his wife’s subsidy means she is likely to pay about $1,200 or more each month, up from about $500 in 2024, he said. “I voted for Trump,” Reynolds said. “I didn’t expect this.”

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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 6h

👏 "We've lived here all our lives. And I have never felt so unwelcome in my own hometown as I do since your party came into Caerphilly."

"With all the rhetoric that you bring in, I have to say to my sons, please don't go there. Please don't do this."

"I blame you for that."

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Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 2h

Glenn Beck has been targeting these same groups for so long that a viewer of his attempted to murder people at the Tides Foundation in SF *a decade and a half ago* (and settled for a shoutout with cops on 580) www.democracynow.org/2010/10/12/p...

"Progressive Hunter": Gunman Cites Listening to Glenn Beck and Others as Inspiration for Armed Plot Against ACLU & Tides

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Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 8h

The BBC tells us there are Palestinians waiting to be evacuated from Gaza through the Rafah crossing for medical treatment abroad but Israel is refusing to open the crossing so they can't leave.

Al Jazeera shows us one of those people, a baby girl who desperately needs surgery.

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 14h

It's going up to $40 billion.

USAID's budget last year was $28 billion.

Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 15h

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 12h

archive.ph/MTcOJ

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Jerad Walker @jeradwalker.bsky.social · 1d

I follow a Norwegian lighthouse keeper named Paal Bjørndal whose whole bit is sharing profound things that are inaudible due to high winds. I love the internet.

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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 11h

There’s 1,000 times more chatter about the Maine senate race in a year than about Maine’s ballot measure in 3 weeks that’d bring voter ID and crack down on mail voting… maybe let’s start there??? boltsmag.org/maine-questi...

A Ballot Measure Targets Mail Voting in Maine - Bolts

Question 1, on the November ballot, would set up a barrage of new restrictions on absentee ballots that would considerably affect older voters and people with disabilities.

boltsmag.org

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Spencer Sunshine @transform6789.bsky.social · 12h

They’re going after ActBlue
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/big-tal...

Big Talk: Treasury Secretary Declares New War on Terror Against the Left

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that his department is in...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 12h

article I powers just completely liquidated, dead on arrival.

Newsweek @newsweek.com · 13h

FBI agents will be paid during the shutdown, Trump says, using unspent funds to bypass frozen federal pay.

Trump Administration to Continue Paying FBI Amid Government Shutdown

www.newsweek.com

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Kelly Lynne D’Angelo ✨ @kellylynnedang.bsky.social · 13h

legit they're so terrified of No Kings Day, JD Vance is coming to LA, shutting down the I-5, and having Navy ships shoot live-fire munitions over the freeway onto the base to intimidate us

I-5 may be shut down due to concerns over live-fire military event at Camp Pendleton

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is weighing whether to close parts of Interstate 5 beginning Friday amid concerns over what it says is a White House-directed plan to use live ordnance during a military ann...

www.latimes.com

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 13h

Again, it is a full-blown federal felony crime for anyone in the White House or Executive Office of the President to order tax investigations into anyone.

And it's not just a crime to DO it, it's even a federal crime for an employee not to REPORT such an order to the Treasury Inspector General.

26 U.S. Code § 7217 - Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations
U.S. Code
Notes
prev | next
(a)Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.

(b)Reporting requirement
Any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service receiving any request prohibited by subsection (a) shall report the receipt of such request to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

(c)Exceptions
Subsection (a) shall not apply to any written request made—
(1)to an applicable person by or on behalf of the taxpayer and forwarded by such applicable person to the Internal Revenue Service;
(2)by an applicable person for disclosure of return or return information under section 6103 if such request is made in accordance with the requirements of such section; or
(3)by the Secretary of the Treasury as a consequence of the implementation of a change in tax policy.
(d)Penalty
Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

(e)Applicable person
For purposes of this section, the term “applicable person” means—
(1)the President, the Vice President, any employee of the executive office of the President, and any employee of the executive office of the Vice President; and
(2)any individual (other than the Attorney General of the United States) serving in a position specified in section 5312 of title 5, United States Code.

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Sparkle @serenesparkle.bsky.social · 18h

🇮🇱 Israel has killed 62 Palestinians in the first 4 days of the ceasefire. Today alone, another 9 have been killed.

Where are the so called guarantors of this deal???

ISRAEL BROKE THE CEASEFIRE EVERY SINGLE DAY

USA, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey must act now.

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Ashley Kuckelman @ashleyvotesblue.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me again how it’s the drag queens our children shouldn’t be around.

Every MAGA Republican accusation is actually a confession.

From: REICH-WING WATCH

MAGA YOUTH PASTOR AND CPAC PERFORMER, ZACHARY RADCLIFF, HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH 30 ADDITIONAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CHARGES.

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Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 16h

Have Peter Thiel and Palmer Luckey ever read *anything* other than Tolkien?

Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 1d

Tolkein continues to resonate. The new bank being set up by Palmer Luckey and backed by Peter Thiel is named Erebor after the “lonely mountain” in The Hobbit. This was also an interesting line in this rpt on the new bank by @tabbykinder.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/202d...

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Bill Shea @billshea19.bsky.social · 13h

This is how authoritarianism cements itself in power and crushes opposition, all while the eggheads debate if it's fascism or something else.

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 16h

BREAKING via WSJ

The Trump administration is planning sweeping changes in criminal division at the IRS.

Full Story: on.wsj.com/3LbVFtK

The Trump administration is preparing sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service that would allow the agency to pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups more easily, according to people familiar with the matter.
A senior IRS official involved in the effort has drawn up a list of potential targets that includes major Democratic donors, some of the people said.
The undertaking aims to install allies of President Trump at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI, to exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations, officials said. The proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes and are being driven by Gary Shapley, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

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